TMDP Chairman Mahantha Thakur and MJF-D Chair Bijay Kumar Gachhadar met today and formed a six-member team to expedite the alliance.

The effort to forge alliance comes in the backdrop of TMDP’s failed effort to unify Madhesi parties.

MJF-D leader Yadav said the team will work out modalities of the alliance. He said the team would gather information about prospects of their candidates and support each other’s promising candidates. Poll data of the 2008 CA elections, such as constituencies where separate vote shares of the two parties led to the defeat to candidates of either of the two parties and constituencies where the two parties were top competitors with other parties will be analysed.

Political analyst Vijay Kant Karna said this was a positive step that would put pressure on other Madhesi parties to ally. “Madhesi people do not want their votes to be divided among Madhesi parties. Therefore, this development will send a positive signal and boost the morale of Madhesi voters,” Karna said.

Electoral alliance between Madhesi forces will strengthen the Madhesi agendas of federalism and inclusion in the next CA, he argued. “Madhesi parties and also other parties need to have pre-poll agreement on various issues of constitution. That will prepare the ground for easy collaboration among parties after elections,” Karna said.

But electoral alliance may not be that easy. Political analyst Tula Narayan Shah said leaders of Madhesi parties have already made up their minds and if they are told not to contest, they might rebel against their parties’ leadership. “Many Madhesi leaders are quitting their parties to join relatively stronger parties and this can replay when TMDP and MJF-D enter electoral alliance and tell their leaders not to contest,” Shah added.